


Sword art online The Lost Soldier

by Lord_Darth_Fire, redbluezero



Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga), Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet (Video Game), ソードアート・オンライン - 川原礫 | Sword Art Online - Kawahara Reki
Genre: Enemies to Friends, F/M, Manipulation, Manipulative Relationship, Redemption, Rehabilitation, Siblings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:49:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25755382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lord_Darth_Fire/pseuds/Lord_Darth_Fire, https://archiveofourown.org/users/redbluezero/pseuds/redbluezero
Relationships: Asada Shino | Sinon & Shinkawa Kyouji | Spiegel, Asada Shino | Sinon/Shinkawa Kyouji | Spiegel
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1 A Face From The Past

It had been 3 months since the self-proclaimed Death Gun murdered 4 people, all with a life to live and memories to make. However, in reality, Death Gun had 5 victims. Even though it wasn't a murder, the fifth casualty was Kyouji Shinkawa. He was a youth destined for greatness, but as it turned out, fate had other plans… 

"No visitors outside of family," the officer said with a cold and calm voice to the short girl Infront of him.

"I have been told that I have the right to talk to him," she replied, "I was one of the people who took him down." She began to glare straight into the man's eyes.

"Are you Asada Shino?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Then you may proceed. We have been informed of your visit," he said before opening the door behind him, leading her to a room with a glass wall connecting it to yet another room.

"Take a seat," he suggested before leaving the room. As if on cue, the door to the other room opened, revealing a young adult with long, greyish blonde hair. His skin was pale and he had a sickening smile on his face.

"Are you Shinkawa Shouichi?" Shino asked, as she hadn’t seen him before in real life.

"Not to you. You know me by a different name," he replied, before looking up at her. His eyes, appearing to be a gleaming crimson, made shivers run down her spine. 

"The name of the one who strikes fear. The one who holds real power. DEAT-"

"Sterben," she cut him off.

"Very well, girl. And if I am not mistaken, you are Asada? Or rather, Sinon. Haha, yes, Spiegel told me a lot about you~" he hissed her name, his voice filled with spite for the one who bested him with a sniper rifle.

"I am here because I want you to tell me something," she said, trying to stay polite even though the vibes alone coming from the man in front of her drove her to madness.

"Oh, is that so? Then don't waste your or my time, dear, I have nothing to tell. YOU bring kirito next time, and then we may have a chat~" Unlike with her name, he uttered Kirito’s name with ease. He said it in a slightly playful, kind of flirtatious way.

"THIS ISN'T A GAME! TELL ME, WHAT DID KYOUJI EVER DO TO YOU TO DESERVE THIS!?" she lashed out at him, causing him to drop the smile for a more confused look.

"Excuse me, who?" Sterben replied in a mocking voice. He was obviously having fun with the angry girl in front of him.

"HE WAS NEVER LIKE THAT BEFORE! BUT EVER SINCE YOU CAME BACK FROM SAO, HE GREW MORE DISTANT, AND HE ONLY EVER TALKED TO ME! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!?"

"Again, I have no idea who you are implying," he shrugged.

"SPIEGEL!!!" she yelled, her eyes fueled with rage and hate for the man in front of her.

"Oh, you mean my dear brother! Why didn't you say so sooner? Why, I have had talks with him ever since I came here. He does well in this asylum," he kept dodging the point of conversation.

"What did you tell him? What did you DO!?" she yelled again, but this time in a sad way, "He was my friend." She looked down.

"Until you came along.”

"Do you really wanna know? Go ask him, then. Seems a lot easier than visiting me," Sterben said, his voice now calm and collected.

"I’m not allowed to visit him yet," she replied glaring at him.

"I’m not allowed visitors either, but you managed to see me. Wanna know why?" his smile returned. He leaned forward, his nose now rubbing against the glass wall.

"You may act tough, but you are scared! SCARED TO MEET HIM FACE TO FACE, SCARED TO SEE ME IN HIS EYES!" his voice calmed as he lost the smile again, "Scared that it's too late to save him." Shino stood up.

"Huh. That was eye-opening, so thanks, I guess. I will be visiting him, and I will talk to him, because he needs someone who cares for him. And unlike you, I do," she told him, her face devoid of emotion. Then he snapped,

"HOW DARE YOU! I WAS ALWAYS THERE FOR HIM, YET YOU CLAIM TO KNOW HIM MORE THAN I DO? HE WAS LOST LONG BEFORE I CAME ALONG! YOU WERE JUST TOO FOOLISH TO REALIZE!" His outburst made the guards rush in, pulling him back to his cell.

"Talk’s over," an officer told Shino. She had already walked out of the cell, but not before taking one last look at Shouichi, who smiled at her as he was dragged away.

ALO

"I’ll go either way, but I want you there," the Cait Sith said to the man she’d called a friend for a while now, "Not in the room... I must talk to him alone, but please be there in case anything happens." Kirito nodded.

"I will be there, don't worry," he replied looking down at the shorter girl.

"Thank you, Kiriko-chan!" she teased him, smiling softly.

"You will never let that go, will you?"

"Nope! Now log off, I need you ready to come pick me up so you can drive us to the asylum," she quickly said before logging off.

"WAIT, YOU JUST NEED ME FOR THE RI- and she is gone!" Kirito huffed before logging off himself, not noticing the figure staring at him through the window.

"Soon, Kirito, we shall have our revenge."

Outside of the virtual world, an hour or so later

"ALRIGHT KIRITO, JUST PARK HERE!" Shino told her friend as they drove into the asylum's parking lot.

"You know, I really do think you get a lot more from our friendship than I do," Kirito jokingly said as he pulled his motorcycle to a stop.

"Don’t worry, Kirito, you are just paying off your debt to me for lying about who you were back in GGO," she replied playfully as she got off of the bike.

"I never said I was a girl, you just assumed that and I went with it," he defended himself, earning a death glare from the girl, "Okay, okay, I’m sorry!"

"Whatever," she said before walking into the building, with Kirito close behind her.

They walked down a long hallway, which had doorways to different rooms of the asylum. They were escorted around by a guard before coming to an end by the cafeteria's door.

"Shinkawa Kyouji’s fellow inmates have already been taken to their cells, so you are free to enter."

"Thank you," Shino bowed in front of the guard, then walked to the door.

Kirito stepped to follow Shino inside the cafeteria, but he was stopped in his tracks by Shino’s extended hand. 

"He will most likely freak out if he sees you with me. I will be going alone."

"I’M NOT GONNA LEAVE YOU ALONE WITH DEATH GUN! YOU REMEM-" Kirito began, only to stop himself and walk backward toward the wall, "I... I am sorry."

"I know." And with that, Shino entered the cafeteria.

The room was pale white, stainless and shiny. Tables formed three horizontal rows and behind said rows was a vending machine. In the middle of the first row sat a boy, his white uniform shining in the sunlight along with his light hair. He looked down at the table with hardly any movement, other than a classic up and down heaving that showed that he was at least still breathing.

"Shinkawa-kun?" Shino called out, which caught the boy’s attention immediately. He stared at her, his eyes burning through the girl’s soul.

"Asada-san?"


	2. Chapter 2 A Creature In A Mask

“Asada-san!?" the boy yelled out in shock, which caused the black haired girl to step back. Her eyes went wide.

The boy’s eyes copied her own as he looked downward, and then away.

"Sh-Shinkawa-kun," Shino began walking towards the boy, stopping a few feet away from the table he was at. “I am here ‘cause I need to talk to you.”

The boy made sure he didn't make eye contact with her. He just shook his head in denial, which made Shino confused.

"Shinkawa-kun, I can help you. But only if you help me understand," she pleaded for him to open up. That was the only thing that could mend the situation; either Kyouji’s gaze was still his own, or Shouichi was right.

Again, Kyouji didn't reply. He just stared at the table, his eyes refusing to look up at her.

Shino was beginning to get mad, and yelled,  
"I WANT TO KNOW WHERE MY BEST FRIEND WENT!” She hit her fist on the table, which caused Kirito to worry about what was going on inside. He walked into the room, which was what FINALLY caused Kyouji to look up.

His eyes filled with disbelief, and Shino turned around to give the Black Swordsman a death glare.

-Kirito was about to ask accusatory questions, when he noticed that Kyouji seemed to be in a calm mood.

Kirito looked at Kyouji’s handcuffs, which were connected to the table. With that newfound relief, he scratched the back of his head and stumbled out of the room. It was best for his in-game and real life, as he feared Shino.

When the girl turned to look at him again, Kyouji was staring up at her. It caught her off guard, and even more so when he spoke.

"Of course... OF COURSE YOU DIDN'T COME ALONE! Why would you…” he looked down again, tears forming in his eyes, “Why would you trust me enough to meet me alone?" And then he looked up yet again.

"I wouldn't trust myself... but I just thought…” he muttered. Shino wanted to comfort him, but the moment she moved closer, scenes from that night flashed in her eyes.

Kyouji looked at her and, in Shino's mind, his face fell off. His crumbled façade revealed a skull underneath it, with two red glowing eyes staring right at her.

She pulled away quickly before sitting down across the table from Kyouji.

"Kirito?" she called out, which caused the boy in black to open the door again.

"Yes, Asada-san?" he asked. He looked inside the room, only to see Shino with a small smile on her face. Kyouji was peering down at the table.

"Forgive me for dragging you in here for no reason, I am fine now. You can leave," she said in the most sincere voice she could make

"No, it's fine, I don't mind. I can wa-" Kirito’s response was cut short by Shino's face going from a soft and friendly look to another death glare.

“Actually on second thought…”

Kirito decided to leave the situation to Shino. He left the room and, soon after, the building.

"There, we are alone. Can we talk now?" Shino looked forward. Her face was back to normal, and she had hope that she could maybe get through to him.

Kyouji took a moment, before starting to cooperate.

[bc]GGO, a few minutes later

Kirito logged into Gun Gale Online; he didn't know why, but he felt like something was wrong.

"Hey, Kirito," came the voice of the pink haired tsundere. It was Kureha, who was just hanging around the lobby with Rei.

"Oh, Kirito, HI!" said the ArFA-Sys, bowing before Kirito despite NOT being told to by her master.

"Hey Kureha, hey Rei," Kirito greeted them before walking over.

"So, how are you? We haven't really talked much after the... Death Gun Incident,” Kirito said to Kureha, who seemed upset. Rei looked down as well.

"What’s wrong?” Kirito asked, noticing their sour moods.

"Leo isn't taking Itsuki's betrayal well. He hasn't been online lately, and he only logged on once to tell me to take care of Rei for a while. We haven't talked since," Kureha replied, clearly sad about the whole ordeal.

[S]((shameless self-insert but since kureha and zeliska are Canon the fatal bullet protagonist is aswell plus don't worry my existence will be as a secondary to background character am not gonna be taking on Death Gun "not in this story atleast")) 

"Speaking of which, I have to go. Rei needs to go back to the room, too," Kureha cut herself off, looking at the ArFA-Sys.  
“Maybe he will join today," Rei ended the conversation with that, and both girls walked off.

Kirito smiled, seeing off the girls, when something caught his eye.

There, in the shadows near the entrance, two red glowing eyes stared at him. He was shocked, and he wanted to look away. He wished he could say it was a nightmare, or a hallucination, but they were there. There was no doubt about it.

He shook his head and took another glance, but the figure had left the shadows and was exiting the building.

Kirito gave chase, but when he reached the outside of the lobby, the figure was gone.

Quickly, he opened his menu to look for the name of the man that he thought he saw.

"Come on, come on,” Kirito was about to freak out when he realized that there was no player in the lobby by the name of Sterben.

"Kirito," came a voice from behind the swordsman. The same robotic and metallic voice that haunted him, the one he wished he would never hear again.

He turned around, smoke blurring his view, but the shape and color of the mask was undeniable. Hee couldn't make out much else, not the outfit and definitely not the name. The figure whispered,

"It's showtime~" before raising its hand to log out of the game.


	3. Chapter 3 Dr Kyouji And Mr Sterben

"So, what do you want to know?" Kyouji asked the girl whom he had once called his best friend. He was too ashamed to do so now, though.

Shino rested on the seat and looked at the boy in front of her.

"Well, how have you been?" she asked him casually, which caught him off guard.

"Not good," he replied, "Death Gun killed people using Full Dive technology. Many people here lost someone to Sword Art Online, surprisingly, so they weren't so keen on seeing me." He looked at the door, where inmates would enter the cafeteria from their cells.

"I see…” Shino said, looking down. She felt sick to her stomach over the mention of Death Gun, but tried to hide it. 

"But you didn't murder them. You were the one using the avatar. Your brother said himself that he was the one poisoning the players." 

"Using that logic would let Kayaba Akihiko go free. He didn't kill the players, his monsters did…” he looked down, his regrets and sorrow obvious to Shino. She reached out to cup his cheek in her hand, but he pulled away.

"I’m… sorry," she said, drawing her hand back.

Kyouji didn't respond for a few seconds, no sound or no movement. If they hadn’t just been talking, Shino would’ve thought that he was a statue. His face had no emotion; only a few dripping tears.

Kyouji's flashback a few days before the events of Phantom bullet

"Actually, this is crazy. We can't murder him, we’ll get caught!" Kyouji whisper yelled at his older brother.

"He fooled you, and he fooled all those below him. He deserves it; if WE don't do it, then who will?" Shouichi’s skinny form said to his younger brother.

Shouichi started showing Kyouji some gameplay he had recorded from his Nervegear while he played as Sterben in Gun Gale Online.

"Sterben could be our image. We could be a legend, my dear brother- no, Spiegel. We could be the spirit of vengeance!" Shouichi said, his eyes glowing in excitement and almost appearing to be red. His brother had never seen anything like that before.

"But if we get cau-" Kyouji started, only for his brother to shush him.

“We won't, I promise" Shouichi cupped his brother’s cheek and kissed his forehead.

“Death Gun will be our greatest project."

Kyouji looked down and thought about it, then looked up at his brother. Unbeknownst to him, his own eyes mirrored Shouichi’s crimson glow.

"The name needs work… what's the plan?" Kyouji asked, earning a chuckle from Shouichi.

"Death to those who deserve it." 

End of flashback 

"Shouichi..." Kyouji muttered loud enough to be heard, but too quiet to be able to make out what exactly he said.

"What?" Shino asked, taking him out of his trance.

"My brother, he... manipulated me. He didn't care for me, he just needed me for his plan," Kyouji's crying turned to sobbing, "I wasn't Death Gun! I… I was a fool.”

"And I didn't know it!" he pleaded "I didn’t know I was his puppet, his chess piece, not a brother but a weapo-" Kyouji got cut off when Shino hugged him.

He didn't move, because he didn't want the moment to end. He didn't want her to pull away, he wanted the warm feeling to last forever. He wanted someone to be there for him.

Shino, on the other hand, was conflicted. Why was she doing this? Was it to prove Shouichi wrong? Was it for closure? Maybe she wanted to fully destroy Death Gun, every last bit of him left inside of Kyouji, but she would be lying if she said it didn't feel good to finally have her friend realize Shouichi’s faults.

The two broke the hug, much to Kyouji's displeasure, but they kept talking for an hour or so. Sinon talked about how she was planning to take part in the next Bullet of Bullets; oh, how Kyouji wished he could play GGO again!

They talked about how Shino's life was going, and how one day they would play again together like they used to; before all the madness, and before Shouichi’s SAO grudge entered their lives.

GGO in the meantime

Kirito was seated on the floor where he had seen Death Gun, or what he thought was Death Gun. Because, really, there was no way it was Death Gun. He was gone, he was in prison, and the avatar was terminated.

Asuna joined Gun Gale Online the second Kirito asked her to from the VRMMO intercoms. He felt lucky that she was online, even though she was in Alfheim rather than Glocken.

"Kirito, I came as fast as I could! What happened?" Asuna said while hugging him. She had never seen him so scared before.

Kirito only had the strength to hug her at that point. His feelings were mixed; he was happy that Asuna was okay, but scared of Death Gun being in his house and waiting for him to wake up.

"Asuna..." Kirito called out.

"I’m here, Kirito. I’m here.” They stood there, hugging, and a crowd started forming around them and commenting on the fearful couple.

back at the asylum

"Are you sure it's okay for me to do this?" Kyouji asked, holding the Amusphere in his hands.

They’d been moved to another room. Kyouji was still restrained, for safety, but the new room was more comfortable.

"Yeah. Without a partner, you can't commit murder. And I was told you haven't caused problems here, so a little convincing was all it took to get you this," Shino said as she held another Amusphere in her hands.

"My account, Spiegel, was deleted, right?" he asked, his hands trembling.

"Yes, but at least now you can fix your stats. And don't worry, I will help you get back in the game," she said, her voice sincere.

"Okay then, Sinon," he said, surprisingly not inciting any reaction from his friend. Shino believed that Death Gun was gone, so she had no reason to fear him anymore.

They put on their helmets on and laid down on different sofas.

"Link Start!”


End file.
